Medical Revelations

Posted on Tue Dec 18th, 2018 @ 5:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Lieutenant Asa Dael

Mission: Escaped Pantheons
Location: Main Sickbay
Timeline: 2395

Laying on a medbay bed in the now quiet sickbay of the U.S.S. Hera, lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Dox wiped a tear from her eye, hoping nobody would notice. But it wasn't easy as she was still in intense pain.

Dried brown blood rested, crusting under her nostrils and had collected in her ears from her encounter with the trickster god Anansi, earlier that very day. The self proclaimed 'god of stories' invaded the anxious young pilots mind and pulled out a host of painful memories, twisting them into waking nightmares.

There was a numb ringing in her skull as she squinted up at the medical lights overhead, trying to contain what felt like a growing sense of panic on the table. Flashes of the nightmare memories assaulted her. She could hear the ships Chief Medical Officer shuffling around her, hard at work.

The hypospray in Doctor Asa Dael's hands trembled slightly. The young doctor injected blood thinners and cortico-stimulants while suppressing their own sorrow that their friend was suffering. The nanobots in Dox's system were being flushed out through a series of electronic pulses aimed at the pilots left hemisphere, but some damage had been done. Thankfully nothing beyond healing thus far, but Dael felt responsible as they had placed the bots in Dox's system to begin with.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Just inject a foreign substance into someone and send them into the field with that untested. Great job, Asa. Maybe next time you can just stab her in the eye and cut to the chase, Dael berated themself internally.

Turning to the nearby nurse, Asa instructed "Increase sub-psionic pulses at 25% until we reach a 5 micrometer per cycle recession rate. Then return to current levels until nanobot levels are consistently evacuating at rate with less than 2% variance per cycle."

Seeing their instructions were understood, Dael turned to asses Dox. Her pain receptors were in overdrive, so Asa injected another round of painkillers. The pilot was approaching maximum levels, but the doctor figured they had one more round in the next four hours that could be administered.

Watching the vitals above the biobed begin to stabilize, the doctor began to gently wipe the dried blood off Melanie's intrepid form.

"Your neurological function is beginning to stabilize, and the nanobots that caused the damage are leaving your system. We are sending pulses to aid the process and help heal your injuries. I'm not going to lie- the next few days are not going to be fun, but you are going to get through this, I promise. I'm so sorry this happened to you," Asa's voice began to crack, "I'm going to make this right. Tell me, how are you feeling?"

The doctor moved to sit next to their patient, holding her hand and letting a few tears fall freely.

Squeezing Asa's hand weekly, Melanie forced an awkward smile on her face. It was a bit of an effort in her exhausted state. "I'm..." She spoke weakly. "I feel very much ALIVE Asa. I don't think that would have been the case without your nanobots. They... they forced that... thing... out of my head. We wouldn't have... stopped him otherwise."

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, Melanie took a breath. "And I've got you to get me through the rest, Doctor. So please, don't beat yourself up. There's no way we could have predicted what happened. What Anansi..."

Wincing slightly, Melanie trailed off. But it wasn't the physical discomfort that was bothering her. It was flashes of memories of her encounter with the trickster god. Memories of what it showed her.

Memories she didn't want to think about anymore. But memories she needed to find out more about.

"Asa... Are we... alone?"

With a nod to Nurse Hathaway to leave, Asa turned to Melanie, "Well, the EMH is somewhere in the ether, but he's pretty good at respecting privacy, so yeah, it's just us. You ok? You drifted off there for a minute. Let's breathe together ok?"

Leading by example, Asa took a deep breath in and out, then said, "Try to sync your breathing with mine for a moment. Breathe in when I do, then exhale when I do. Think about the sensation of the air going in through your nose, out through your mouth. Just focus on that for a few minutes whlie the nanobots leave your system. I'm right here with you, I'm not going anywhere."

Seeing comprehension in Melanie's eyes, Asa continued to breathe at a slow, measured pace. It was extremely uncomfrortable to their El-Aurian biology and high metabolism, the doctor naturally tended towards shallow breaths in quick succession, but they were able to moderate it to help calm their friend. Seeing Melanie's vitals were continuing to stabilize and her cortisol levels were receding, Asa said, "OK, there you are. Let's catch up....you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, but I think you need to get some stuff off your chest. Want to tell me what happened?"

"It's... more than just that." Melanie struggled to find the strength to tug at the loose strands Anansi had left in her mind. "He... his power. Anasi could... pull your own memories out of your mind. Make you... relive them." She sniffled, holding Asa's hand just a bit tighter. "But what you see... comes from your own memories."

"He... showed me things, Asa. Things... things I DIDN'T remember at first." Melanie was starting to get aggitated as she recounted the events, but paused to catch her breath and relax. On top of her own problems, she knew she was worrying Doctor Dael and wanted to try and not add to their stress.

"He said they were things I tried to... to forget." A tear ran down Melanie's cheek as she spoke. "I was... I was just a little girl. I was home... on the Forrager." Dox rattled off the name of the smuggling ship she grew up on, not thinking if Asa had any idea what she was talking about. But she was now lost in the moment.

"I was on my knees... In a corridor outside the cockpit. Listening to my parents. They were screaming at each other. Screaming about something... about... me." Melanie stopped herself again to try and slow herself down. Without thinking, she began mumbling 'calm down's in Rihan, the Romulan dialect she was raised speaking. "mos'eiheu... mos'eiheu."

"Sorry. It's... It's hard. I'm..." Melanie struggled to remember, but was determined to get it out. "I was on my knees. It was cold. No, I was cold. I was... wet." Tears began to well up in the injured pilots eyes. "My hands. I looked down at my hands and they were brown with blood. I was bleeding. It was streaming down my head and..."

Wincing, Melanie pulled her hands loose and up to her ears as if reenacting the memory almost unconsciously. "Something happened. I was bleeding from..."

Suddenly, Melanie stopped. She shut her eyes to breathe and wiped tears from her face. "When I dream... when I dream I don't look like this, Asa. I look like my mother. I look Romulan. All my life, when I dream, I have her ears, Asa."

Looking up with a pained expression on her face, Melanie's voice cracked as she spoke. "I think... I think they... I think they cut them off when I was little." She grabbed an ear again feeling a wave of panic welling up in her. "I think they cut them off and I forgot."

"I... I need to know if..." Melanie looked up at her friend. "I'm sorry... I don't know what to do."

Bad parenting was no stranger to Asa Dael, they came from a home destroyed by an overbearing fathers need to control the health of his wife and children. Perhaps that is what had drawn them to Melanie in the first place…one damaged child sensing another. The doctor made an effort to keep their face calm, not wanting to cause any additional distress to their patient.

“Well, I can check and see if there are any signs of alteration if you like. Keep in mind, dreams can be strange like that, and memory is tricky. About ¼ of what we remember is inaccurate in some way…our memories change over time, and that’s ok. Sometimes we remember things the way we need to.”

Moving a little closer and pulling up a chair, Asa continued, “Melanie, I’m so sorry this happened. If you want to find out the truth, I’m here for you, 100%. Just don’t feel like you have to, or that you have to rush to know what to do, or that an alteration to your ears made you any less wonderful. You are a kind, brave, brilliant, beautiful person, and anyone who would tell you otherwise is a fool……god or not.”

Between the lingering pain of her injuries and the emotional strain of talking about what Anasi had shown her, Melanie was now barely holding herself together. The memory of being surgically altered was only the first in a series of revelations that she needed to learn the truth about. Revelations she wasn't ready to talk about yet. But both of her parents were incarserated by Starfleet on Earth and she had no idea how she could ever confront them directly. This was the only revelation someone else could possibly confirm.

"If I don't... If I don't find out now... I don't think I'll ever be able to ask again, Asa." Melanie tried to wipe the tears from her face. "I'm s...s... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have put this on you. You don't deserve it. You've been nothing but kind to me and I'm... I'm so sorry..." Her voice fell into a whisper.

"I... Just need to know if any of it was true, ya' know?"

With a squeeze to Melanie’s hand, Asa ran to the replicator and retrieved a hot cup of Earl Gray, returned to help Dox sit up, and brought the cup gently to her lips. In the doctors mind there is precious little in life better for curing the soul than a friends hand and a hot beverage….except maybe chocolate, but not while still in recovery.

The warm tea felt wonderful and soothing, as Melanie tried to calm down and let it do it's job.

They turned to Melanie and spoke gently, “Hey, come on now. First all, you are my friend, and I literally asked you what was going on. That’s because I care. Secondly, what kind of pitiful doctor would I be if I didn’t want to help you heal, both body and soul? Taking care of people is kinda why I took the gig, silly. I want to be here, I want to help, thank you for trusting me with that.”

Happy to be sitting up, Melanie's head started to feel a little more clear. Or, at least her snot filled sinuses from crying were getting to drain a little. Still, she found herself blushing at the doctor's kind words as they spoke.

Seeing the tea had done a bit of good, Asa placed it on the table next to the biobed. “And let’s not make you ask again, eh? Answers are a scan away…then we can face what comes after them together. And hey, Melanie? Your emotions are probably all over the place right now. That’s ok. You just had an ancient and powerful being mess with you and nanobots go nuts and scramble your brain too. I’d be surprised if you weren’t a bit of a mess. It’s going to be ok. Whatever the truth is, I’m here to face it with you. You aren’t alone, and you aren’t going to be. Heck, I live next door to you. Can’t escape me if you want to, my friend,” Asa concluded with a smile.

The doctor leaned over to an adjoining biobed station and secured a deep tissue triocorder. A small specialized device, it was able to determine the surgical history of tissues and organs that might otherwise be hidden from medical records and scanners. The whirring sound was tinny and high pitched, but thankfully the scanning process was brief. Asa put the device down, suppressing a sigh or a wince. It seems Melanie’s suspicions were correct….she had been cosmetically altered during her youth.

“Hey Mel…I don’t know if this is good news or not, but you were right. Your ears were surgically altered when you were around 5 years old. They did a good job though, and I don’t detect any loss of functionality. This does raise a question as to if there are any other parts of your anatomy that have been changed, so I do recommend a full genetic sequencing to compare to active physiology, but that can wait until you are doing better. In fact, I’m going to insist on it. I don’t want any further stresses to your noggin until it’s been bot free for a while, ok? And hey, um, can I give you a hug? It really seems like you need one.”

The last sentence was said with trepidation and shyness. The normally tactile cheery doctor was suddenly at a loss, knowing their friend must be questioning her existence and wanting to help somehow.

The conflicted pilot's mind was racing with questions and emotions. She sat, staring forward silently for a moment but she leaned in quickly for the much needed hug.

Enveloping the trembling client in a strong embrace, Asa felt Melanie’s hidden sobs quaking through her body, and the doctor tightened their grip around the pilot.

“You do realize this means I’m going to yell at Anasazi now, right? No one hurts my friends and escapes unscathed. Let’s see if I can’t kill the SOB with an arched eyebrow and a weaponized sneeze. Our little secret. Betcha I can find a germ or two the bastard doesn’t have immunity to…,” Asa said, attempting levity.

"He's... He turns into a giant spider, Asa." Melanie replied somewhat flatly, appreciating their efforts but feeling a bit too numb to smile.

"Well that's an easy one then. Pesticide! Or a friendly giant with big boots. As weird as the universe is lately, we will probably run into the jolly green giant soon enough. How ya feeling? Physically, I mean. Can you left each arm, one at a time, and then show me you can still move both sides of your mouth and blink? "

The bio bed indicated Melanie was returning to baseline, albeit slowly, but sometimes the old ways of checking on patients were best. After all, a patient cant read the complex med screen without training, but they can lift their arms and blink, and sometimes just proving to themself they were not permanently harmed could go a long way towards restoring health.

Lifting each arm slowly one at a time, Melanie sniffled a little. "There's still a little... tingle. Like my arms were asleep or something. But they're doing what I tell them too." A medical order, even one asked sweetly was still an order and.the officer in Melanie was attentive and it helped her to get out of her own head and do literally anything.

"How's this?" The still shakey lieutenant winked each eye, one at a time and turned the corners of her mouth up.

"It's almost a smile and an a flirt, so it's excellent," the doctor replied. They scanned with their tricorder, and seeing the nanobot recession rate was stable, continued to allow the bots to leave.

"The nanobots are leaving still, should be all out in about 30 minutes. The tingle is the electrical impulses in your body trying to normalize. Combined with the alteration in blood flow while we rectify the mini-strokes the bots caused, things might feel tingly or tickley for the next day or so off and on. I know it's not enormously comfortable, but it does mean you are healing."

Further reading the tricorder, Asa turned to look Melanie in the eyes. Speaking softly, they said, "You know that cosmetic surgery can be undone, right? If you want your ears returned to their genetic shape, I can do that for you. It's your choice, and not one you have to make today."

Lost in thought again, Melanie replied a few seconds longer then normal. "Huh? Oh... yeah." The emotionally torn young woman ran her finger over an ear nervously. "Yeah... maybe. I don't know."

Looking back up at her friend with a somewhat pained expression. "I just don't know what to think about this yet, ya'know. It's..." Melaine dipped her head back down. "I need to... think about it all. Figure it out. But... Thank you, Asa. Really."

Lightly bumping their shoulder against hers, Asa replied, "That's what friends are for, silly. And hey, if your quarters get too big at night and your head gets too loud, just come on over. I'll program you access to my door, and we can set up a second bed for a while if you want, or just climb into mine. I generally sleep curled up like a cat, so there is plenty of room. Or we can talk, or we just can occupy the same space for a while if you need. Trauma is funny that way- it heals best with a friend."

'Friend' was a word that Melaine Dox still had a hard time wrapping her mind around. Friends were something she had never managed to find in her adult life until joining the Hera and she didn't quite know how to behave. But she let an honest, albiet awkward smile crack her otherwise nervous expression. Being around Asa made her feel more comfortable in her own skin and she was glad for it.

But the smile was Melanie's only real response, as she couldn't find the words to express herself in the moment. A part of her was terrified that if she tried to say any more that she would simply fall to pieces. So, she smiled.

The smile was all she could manage as it was clear she was exhausted from her experiences.

Sensing Melanie was a bit overwhelmed, both physically and emotionally, Asa stepped back into doctor mode.

"Rest now. Sleep as much as you can for the next day. Your brain needs the REM cycles and delta sleep to get straightened out. I'm programming a sleep aid to your replicator in case you need it, but try not to if you can. No substitute for natural sleep. Let's get you home, ok? I'll walk you there if you want. Try standing up for me?"

Nodding quietly, Melanie slowly turned in bed and hesitantly brought herself to her feet. She was thankful that the nausea of the last few hours was gone and while she felt a tad wobbly due to fatigue, she stood up fairly well.

She turned and smiled weakly at Asa. "Everything feels like it's working, Doc."

"Glad to hear it, now let's get you to bed," Asa said, placing Melanie's arm entwined around theirs for support if needed, and began walking arm in arm towards the pilots quarters.

 

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